Four Centuries of Fashion: Classical Kimono from the Kyoto National Museum is actually a catalogue from the 1997 Asian Art Museum of San Francisco exhibition of the same name. This is a handsome large softcover with two long essay sections taking up the first 30 pages and then 100+ pages devoted to the catalogue itself. The information in the essay sections on dyes and the ways fashions changed were actually so fascinating I didn't even flip ahead to the full page photos (like I have done in the past with catalogues like Opulence: The Kimonos and Robes of Itchiku Kubota).

The kosode themselves are incredible. Each is given a full page with an explantion facing and often a close up and explanation of the kind of weave of silk or other fabric. I will put up some scans later as soon as I can figure out a way to scan it without hurting the library book. There is even a foldout on trends in Edo era hairstyles.

If I have one niggling complaint, it's that sometimes too much is traslated. "Pine" instead of matsu is fine, but "tie dye" instead of shibori begins to get a little annoying. However, specific techniques are transliterated, so it is possible to follow along (although kanji would be nice, too). ( )